Business models and sustainability of e-clusters: A case study

The paper presents the results of a study examining the development of e-clusters with a particular emphasis on the business models that are suited to their long-term sustainability. It is based on the case study of a food industry e-cluster. Primary data was collected through an on-line best practice review, structured interviews with 20 organisations and workshops with 9 organisations. The study indicated a significant disparity in perceptions of how e-clusters should be funded. It also indicated that generating revenue by means of advertising was not highly favoured by the companies. Finally, the research proposes models for revenue generation for different functionalities of the e-cluster with view to balancing this positively against the cost of managing the e-cluster.